iris

\i.ʁis\

/\i.ʁis\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“iris” has 5 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #9,504. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#9,504
frequency rank, French
3,561
“I” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Partie colorée de l’œil qui environne la prunelle et qui présente quelquefois des nuances circulaires et concentriques.

Corpus desk

Index FR-iris · iris · French

iris · rank #9,504 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #9,504
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,561
  • PHOTO-FINISH intervalle

Nearest frequency peer: intervalle (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « iris »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « iris » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

iris vs IRL
0% similar
iris vs its
50% similar
iris vs IRM
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for iris
PropertyValue
Headwordiris
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\i.ʁis\
Letters4
Frequency rank#9,504
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « iris »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.irisse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « intervalle » (#9,503), « isolés » (#9,505), « interlocuteur » (#9,502). Parmi 3,561 lemmes en « I », « iris » est au #9,504. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around iris (IPA \i.ʁis\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #9,504 among 3,561 “I” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for iris, with forms such as "iirs", "iriss", and "irris". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "IRL", "its", "IRM", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is iris, spelled I-R-I-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Partie colorée de l’œil qui environne la prunelle et qui présente quelquefois des nuances circulaires et concentriques.
  2. 2
    Système mécanique constitué de plaques assemblées en cercle, permettant par un mécanisme d’obturer l’ouverture centrale progressivement en lui conservant la forme d’un cercle.
  3. 3
    Genre de plantes monocotylédones à fleur de couleur vive et de bonne taille.
  4. 4
    La racine de cet iris dans ses emplois en parfumerie.
  5. 5
    Arc-en-ciel, en référence à Iris dans la mythologie grecque à laquelle ce phénomène est associé.
  6. 6
    Pierre d’iris, iris : Quartz irisé.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how iris appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Cette affection est caractérisée par une sensibilité exagérée de l'œil à la lumière; de là une contraction spasmodique de l’iris, quelquefois avec occlusion complète de la pupille, de sorte que les personnes nyctalopes voient très-bien pendant la nuit, mais cessent de voir pendant le jour.
  2. On remarquera par ailleurs que l’iris de cet œil est hétérochrome. Il est pigmenté en brun, mais aussi en bleu.

This word in other languages

iris(English)iris(Español)Iris(Deutsch)íris(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • iirs
  • iriss
  • irris
  • irsi
  • riis

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of iris - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

iirs2iriss1irris1irsi2riis2
Edit distance from "iris"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "iris"?
"iris" is spelled I-R-I-S. The IPA pronunciation is \i.ʁis\.
What does "iris" mean?
As a noun, "iris" means: Partie colorée de l’œil qui environne la prunelle et qui présente quelquefois des nuances circulaires et concentriques.
What words are commonly confused with "iris"?
"iris" is commonly confused with "IRL", "its", "IRM". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "iris"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "iris" is \i.ʁis\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "iris" come from?
"iris" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "iris", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

maxi#9,511gala#9,486okay#9,523RATP#9,546

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

messi5 variantssean5 variantsbœuf5 variantsAaron5 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list